The organization Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) demanded that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) should stop hiding from its public website the members of its board of directors and executive staff who govern and direct its operations.

In that regard, the NGO that advocates for democracy and human rights in the Arab world launched “The Faces of AIPAC,” a comprehensive resource that identifies the 50 people who lead one of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington, to make it easier for the public to access information about those responsible for AIPAC's activities.

Given that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is an influential pro-Israel political pressure group in the United States, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN, accuses it of “hiding from the American public the identity of its directors and officers, and so today we are offering the transparency that this organization refuses to provide.” “AIPAC is not an abstraction; it is governed by real people who make decisions that have a real impact on the lives of people around the world. The public has a right to easily know who they are,” he insisted. According to critics, AIPAC is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that lobbies Congress and the executive branch to promote pro-Israel policies, including billions of dollars in annual U.S. military aid to Israel, opposing conditions for arms transfers and accountability measures against abusive Israeli officials before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Furthermore, AIPAC is also actively involved in funding pro-Israel candidates in electoral politics, launching a political action committee (AIPAC PAC) and funding the United Democracy Project (UDP), a super PAC. AIPAC PAC and UDP spent a combined $126.9 million during the 2023-2024 election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Therefore, as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, AIPAC is subject to public disclosure requirements, “which is why it is critical to identify in an accessible way the individuals who govern and direct the organization. However, nowhere on AIPAC’s website, not even on the “About Us” page, do the identities of these directors and officers appear,” DAWN emphasized in a statement.

Similarly, he asserts that identifying these 50 individuals is important not only because of their individual roles within AIPAC, but also because they function as a network of networks, simultaneously holding leadership positions in virtually every major pro-Israel institution in the United States. For example,

AIPAC Board Chair Betsy Berns Korn also chairs the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization of 50 organizations that claims to work to “maintain broad support for Israel” and “advance the special relationship between the United States and Israel, bolster Israel’s security and prosperity, and promote the prospects for true and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

“Our research revealed that the AIPAC board is not just a group of 50 people; it is a nexus connecting virtually every major pro-Israel institution in the United States,” said Isabelle Hayslip, a defense and communications specialist at DAWN. “Documenting AIPAC’s leadership also reveals who controls the entire pro-Israel ecosystem.”